SAHM not knowing if they get child benefit, is this usual?

[HmmIDontKnow]

Had a conversation with someone recently, I can't remember how the subject came up but we were talking about benefits and she was saying she didn't claim any. I mentioned child benefit and I was surprised when she said she has no idea if they get it or not. She is a SAHM, I assumed the primary caregiver (mum in most cases) got the child benefit but maybe I'm wrong. But to not even know if they get it is a bit odd right? It seems that she doesn't have access (or maybe just doesn't look) at the bank account? DP and I don't have joint accounts so our finances are done differently, if you have a joint account with your DP/H and you don't work, do you have free access to it?

I'm one of those women who has very little clue. I know we get child benefit but couldn't tell you how much it is (even though it goes into my account). I also couldn't tell you how much we pay for any bills. I do have full access to our money of course as I earn half of it but I don't deal with bills etc as it stresses me out. It works for us fine.

You do (or rather, can) get it if you're a SAHM and your DP earns over £60k but you then have to give it back in the following year via his tax.

I'm taking it at the moment because if I get it it gives me NI 'stamps' which count as a contribution towards my eligible years to claim a pension in my old age. We're still going to have to pay it back but there's a benefit to me having it.

She should know in terms of itd be good for her to know is she's getting her "stamp" or not. Could she be someone who calls is the "family allowance"? I have a friend who says often they don't get any benefits, just family allowance. It transpired that she means child benefit.

If it genuinely wasn't her telling you to myob do you have any other concerns about her at all? Is she a bit naive to finances or could her husband be keeping her in the dark?

Reference above to it tending to be women not knowing about finances. I'm female, we're both higher rate taxpayers and my fiancé has no real idea about our shared income and outgoings and is pretty grateful I'm happy to deal with it. We have separate accounts which are our main accounts and then we chuck a portion of our salaries in a joint account for bills, food, petrol, eating out etc. He gets text updates but I do the stuff like overpaying the mortgage and watch for us hitting annual barrier then transfer to ISA etc.

I cannot imagine being like him in that regard though which he doesn't understand he's just puzzled and like but I trust you. I think I am more cynical...

Just as an aside, we claim child benefit even though I'm over the earning threshold (DH is a sahd) because it counts towards his state pension. You still get the 'credit' for it even if you repay it back.

My husband does our finances (joint). I do know that we get child benefit and the amount because I applied for it, but there are other things I couldn't tell you like how much our electricity bill is. I don't check the bank statements or bills although I could anytime I wanted to.. I know a number of friends with similar set-up.

I do get a text each week from the bank with our balance, so I know if we're needing to reign in or can splurge more.

Equally, I always do both my own and my husband's tax return so I'm more knowledgable than him on that front... It's just a division of labour thing for us.

You don't have to take the money and pay it back in order to get the NI credits, you can submit a zero value claim which has the same outcome.

Well i'm a sahm - i do all the finances. Tbh my dh probably wouldn't have a clue either. There's a big difference between saying you don't get tax credits (cut off quite low) to saying you don't claim child benefit (salary over 60k).
We claim cb - then we pay it back in years we need to (salary variable). Don't trust the government to honour my sahm years (ni wise) without the proof! (I know you can register as being a sahm and that's the same but i still don't trust them not to move the goal posts - cynical) I'd want it going into my account though (not DH's) just to cover my arse!

I know I get it because I remember applying, but I don't know how much it is or when it's paid because it's paid into our joint bank account and I don't keep a close eye on our finances.

Perfectly possible that your friend is fairly comfortably off and doesn't need to scrutinise every bank statement.

Maybe she feels it's none of your business or perhaps she doesn't want t admit to claimimg government support as child allowance is now listed alongside all other benefits.